Hundreds expected to honor USS Thresher crew 50 years later

KITTERY, Maine — It has been 50 years since 129 sailors and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard workers perished aboard the USS Thresher, and two ceremonies steeped in memory and gratitude will be held this weekend to commemorate the loss.

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By Deborah McDermott

seacoastonline.com

By Deborah McDermott

Posted Apr. 2, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By Deborah McDermott

Posted Apr. 2, 2013 at 2:00 AM

Thresher weekend

Saturday, April 6: Thresher Base Submarine Veterans hold its 50th anniversary memorial service at Portsmouth High School beginning at 1 p.m., followed by a wreath-laying ceremony in Prescott Park. ...

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Thresher weekend

Saturday, April 6: Thresher Base Submarine Veterans hold its 50th anniversary memorial service at Portsmouth High School beginning at 1 p.m., followed by a wreath-laying ceremony in Prescott Park. The service at Portsmouth High School is by reservation only. A limited number of overflow seating still remains. For information or for reservations to overflow seating, e-mail thresherbase@comcast.net. For information, visit www.thresherbase.org.

Sunday, April 7: The Thresher Memorial Project Group will be holding a 30-minute ceremony at Memorial Circle in Kittery. The ceremony begins at 9 a.m. There is limited seating but plenty of standing room, and the public is invited. Shuttle service will be provided from Traip Academy, Shapleigh Middle School and the Kittery Community Center. Traffic will not be allowed onto the circle from 9 to 9:45 a.m. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held at Traip Academy. For information, visit threshermemorialkittery.sharepoint.com.

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KITTERY, Maine — It has been 50 years since 129 sailors and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard workers perished aboard the USS Thresher, and two ceremonies steeped in memory and gratitude will be held this weekend to commemorate the loss.

On Saturday, April 6, more than 720 family members from around the country will come to the Seacoast area for a memorial service at Portsmouth High School, in Portsmouth, N.H., held by Thresher Base United States Submarine Veterans.

The ceremony, which will be held in the auditorium with overflow seating in the school cafeteria, is by reservation only. The auditorium is already essentially full and the cafeteria, where a closed circuit television will be installed, is filling.

On Sunday, family members and members of the general public have been invited to attend a special 30-minute ceremony at the Memorial Circle in Kittery, starting at 9 a.m.

"I can't tell you how important this is for family members," said Devin Galeaz, commander of Thresher Base, of Saturday's activities. "It's a very emotional time."

The USS Thresher, built at the local shipyard, sank off the coast of Cape Cod on April 10, 1963, while it was performing sea trials.

The Thresher Base United States Submarine Veterans hold a memorial service and wreath-throwing ceremony annually, but this year's event at PHS will be especially poignant, Galeaz said.

"It's huge. We have people coming from everywhere across the country — I think the farthest away is Alaska," Galeaz said.

Among the family members expected to attend will be 25 widows, as well as children, nieces, nephews and even great-grandchildren.

"We're going to have four generations here in some cases," Galeaz said.

While the memorial service begins at 1 p.m., family members are going to be arriving at the high school at 11 a.m. to share mementos of their loved ones, according to Galeaz. This is a tradition he started last year, and he said he expects many more family members to participate this year.

"I remember last year, there were submarine vets who served with one of the Thresher crew who would come up to family members and say, 'I remember your father, or your uncle.' To see the look in the family's eyes was just unbelievable," he said.

Among those speaking at the memorial service will be U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, N.H. first gentleman Thomas Hassan and Rear Adm. (Select) L. Bryant Fuller, commander of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

A wreath-laying ceremony will follow at Prescott Park.

Many of the family members are staying in the area through Sunday, when the Thresher Memorial Project Group will host a ceremony at Memorial Circle in Kittery.

There had been some concern that a 129-foot flagpole — one foot for each person who died aboard the Thresher — would not be installed in time for the event. However, memorial group member Gary Beers said Monday that if all goes as planned, the flagpole should be in place by Wednesday.

The ceremony, which is set to begin at 9 a.m., is expected to last 30 minutes. The circle will be closed to traffic for 45 minutes, from 9 to 9:45 a.m.

"We want the most solemn and dignified service we can have in honor of these guys," Beers said.

The public is invited, but there will only be seating for 200, which will go to the elderly and the handicapped, according to Beers. The circle itself can easily accommodate 1,000 people, he said.

The ceremony's keynote speaker will be Vice Adm. Michael J. Connor, commander of Submarine Forces for the U.S. Navy. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is also expected to speak.